Count Aleksandr Sheremetev (1859-1931)

SHEREMETEV, Count Alexander–b. 27 February [11 March] 1859, Moscow; d. 18 May 1931, Ste.-Genevieve-des-Bois, nr. Paris. An amateur musician and patron of the musical arts, Sheremetev organized a privately supported orchestra and band, which gave frequent public concerts in St. Petersburg. In 1884 he revived the private chapel choir first established in the 1750s by his great-grandfather, Count P.B. Sheremetev, inviting the composer Alexander Arkhangelsky to be its conductor. As a composer, Sheremetev authored a “Requiem” for soloists, chorus and orchestra, dedicated to the memory of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, as well as a number of unaccompanied sacred choruses.